Combat Dating 101
by Akina Rose Sumora
Summary: [ToA, LukexTear oneshot] Is it training, or is it a date? Tear drags Luke against his will to Tataroo Valley, where he learns something about both.


Combat Dating 101

Ok, I'm on vacation, so we get another LukexTear oneshot! Basically, I asked the AIM ToA chatters if they had any ideas, and the Natalia chatter (Griffinkhan) said, "Tear should take Luke on a date, but it's a date to kill monsters." Genius. Please review, and thankies for the idea Natty!

Oh, I don't own this game or anything in it.

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"Tear, just tell me where the hell we're going!" Luke exclaimed as Tear dragged him along the road by his sleeve.

"You'll find out soon enough," was her only reply.

Luke was getting more irritated by the minute. Tear had randomly showed up at his house that morning, and without warning, announced that she was taking Luke on a trip. His parents told him to "go along and have fun", so he had to comply.

The result was Tear taking Luke to the port, riding a ferry to Chesedonia, and taking a long walk north of the city. It was already late afternoon, and he was hungry, seeing as they hadn't had any lunch.

"Can't we have lunch or something?" he complained.

"We're almost there, we don't have time to stop," Tear answered, letting go of his arm to reach in her bag and pull out an apple, which she handed to him. "Eat that while we walk if you like."

"Man..." Luke muttered as he followed her, munching on the apple. He wanted to sit down. He was about to voice this opinion as well when Tear said, without turning her head:

"Stop complaining. I said we're almost there."

"I didn't say anything!" Luke protested.

"You were going to," said Tear smugly.

Wow, she could be a real pain sometimes.

The sun was beginning to set when Luke finally realized where they were. "Tataroo Valley...why here?"

"I figured we could use some training," Tear replied, setting down her bag against a tree and leaning on her staff. "The monsters here aren't very dangerous, so it'll be easier with just the two of us."

"Are you saying I can't fight strong monsters?" Luke felt insulted.

"I'm saying it's easier to fight weak monsters when there are only two fighters."

"But..."

"Luke, we're here now. Stop complaining."

"But I'm hungry!"

Tear sighed. "Fine. Sit and eat something. I'll be back." Without another word, she turned and headed up the hill.

"Damn, what's with her?" Luke asked himself as he sat under the tree and pulled out a sandwich.

The wonderful sensation of a filling stomach was enough to make Luke drop all precautions. Somewhere on his third sandwich, there was a rustling in the nearby brush.

"Tear, is that you?" Luke demanded, thinking she was going to jump out and yell at him for taking so long.

The only reply was a growl, as a rhinossus jumped out, seeking the food in Luke's possession.

"Crap!" he yelled, scrambling to his feet and drawing his sword, dropping the sandwich in the process. The beast gave him no time to react, charging straight for Luke and trying to gouge him with it's horns. Luke narrowly missed being hit by twisting out of the way, and then swung blindly. The rhinossus easily avoided the poorly aimed blows, and backed up to charge again. Luke couldn't get his footing this time, and he was sure the monster would toss him up in the air, when some distance away he heard:

"O melody beckoning toward the abyss._ Toue Rei Zue Kuroa Ryuo Toue Zue..._"

Squealing in terror, the rhinossus disappeared within the purple fog created by Tear's fonic hymn.

Luke sat down hard on the ground as Tear approached, wearing a satisfied smile. "I knew you needed training."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever..." Luke trailed off, looking mad. "I lost my sandwich..."

"Stop worrying about the sandwich, we have work to do." Tear pulled Luke to his feet forcefully. "First, you have to make sure you're alert at all times, no matter what you're doing. Monsters don't care if you're taking a break to eat a snack. In fact, the smell of the food is more likely to make them attack you."

"As if I didn't already know..."

Half an hour later, it was only getting worse.

"You're still leaving your left side open when you guard! Hold your sword like this, and you'll be able to react quicker if you're attacked on that side!"

"Hey, who asked you? You don't fight with swords-what do you know about guarding with one?"

"Watch and I'll show you what I mean. Guard how you usually do."

Grumbling, Luke took up his defensive pose as Tear got behind him. "Now, imagine there's an opponent in front of you, and you're guarding against him. However, there's an enemy coming up behind you..." Tear coached him.

"Right, sure," Luke said as he stood there, wondering what Tear was going to do.

Imagining there was a soldier before him, for a split second he forgot that this was a training exercise, and the old fear came back. While he was distracted, Tear's staff suddenly struck him in the side before he could react.

"Ow! Damn, Tear!" Luke yelled, dropping his sword and clutching at his side as he was brought painfully back from reality. "Did you have to break my ribs?"

"I didn't break them," Tear insisted. "But let that be a lesson to always guard as much of yourself as you can. And be in a position to turn and guard yourself at another angle if you must."

"Fine, whatever! Can we do something else now?"

"If you're tired already..."

"I'm not tired! Don't you need practice in something?"

"Target practice, maybe..." Tear gave Luke a look.

"No way! Go find some monsters to practice that on! I'll fight my own battles!" Luke stormed off towards the river to train on his own.

Tear watched him go, shaking her head. "He's still got a long way to go..." she sighed to herself as she began wandering about to find some other monsters.

Another half hour passed. Luke was getting tired now, as he defeated another couple of monsters. Looking around, he wondered where Tear was. At first he had heard her quite clearly across the valley, her cries of "Nocturnal Light!" and "Severed Fate!" ringing through the night air as she destroyed monster after monster, one at a time. But, for a while...it had been silent, except for the commotion he was causing with his own training.

"She'd better not have gotten herself hurt, fighting all by herself..." he muttered as he started across the valley to look for her. Last time he'd heard her voice, she'd been further up than when she started...With that in mind, Luke began to climb up.

At the top, in the field of selenia flowers, Luke found her. She wasn't hurt. She was sitting near the edge of the cliff, humming softly to herself and watching the ocean waves below.

"You certainly got some nerve," Luke commented as he came up behind her.

"What did I do?" Tear was unfazed by his sudden appearance. "I finished, and you were still training, so I came up here to wait for you to finish. I didn't want to interrupt you."

"Hmph, right." Luke sat down next to her.

Tear looked at him curiously. "Don't tell me you were actually worried about me or something."

"N-no way! I just came looking for you!" Luke stammered, embarrassed at being caught.

"Whatever you say..." Tear sighed, only half convinced.

They were silent for a while, listening to the gentle night sounds, the soft breeze, and the never-ending crashing of the ocean waves. Luke yawned and lay back in the grass, looking up at the stars. Tear looked at him questioningly for a moment, then lay back as well.

"Do you ever see things in the sky?" Luke asked her.

"Sure, I know all the major constellations and most of the minor ones." Tear answered.

"How, if you were brought up in the Quiphoth?"

"I studied a lot of books and star charts. Then, when I was able to leave Yulia City, I took some of the charts with me and studied the real stars."

"Oh...cool. Can you show me some?"

Tear was surprised at this, but she agreed. So she spent the next 10 minutes pointing out various constellations that could be seen from their vantage point. Luke asked questions about how they got their names, and she was able to provide stories on most of them.

"You're really smart, Tear," Luke sighed when she had shown him all the constellations she could.

"Not really...anyone could learn this kind of thing if they wanted..." Tear blushed a little.

There was silence for a moment, and then Luke muttered, "Hey, Tear?"

"Hm?"

"Um...thanks for earlier."

"Earlier?"

"You know, when I was attacked by that monster, and you killed it when I couldn't react in time." Luke grinned sheepishly. "Guess I really do have a lot more to learn."

"No one can know everything." Tear sat up and looked out at the ocean again. "There's always more things to learn, because new things are discovered all the time. So no one could possibly know everything."

"Except maybe Jade," grumbled Luke.

Tear giggled. "Even he doesn't know everything. The Colonel just...has a strange tendency to guess things before they happen, I think."

"Either way, it's annoying."

"Yes, sometimes it is," Tear agreed. "Anyway...you're welcome." She turned her head to look at him just as he was sitting up, with the result that their faces came very close together. So close, they almost touched.

For a moment, neither of them moved. Then a breeze blew across the field, giving Tear a chill that made her turn away abruptly. "Sorry..." she muttered.

Luke didn't move, trying to figure out what just happened. After a moment, he found his voice. "Tear...um..."

"What?" She still wasn't looking at him.

"Are...are you cold?"

She hesitated, then answered slowly, "No..." But another breeze came off the water, and this time Luke saw her tremble.

"You are, too. Stop lying," he huffed angrily, pulling her to his side and draping his arm across her shoulders.

"Luke...?" Tear was more that a bit surprised at his behavior.

"We can't have you getting sick before we get back, you know." Luke fixed his gaze away from her, pretending to be stubborn.

At first, Tear didn't know what to think, as Luke continued to glare at the far-off cliffs. Then she smiled, and leaned against his side, resting her head on his shoulder. "Thank you, Luke," she whispered.

Now it was Luke's turn to look surprised, but before he knew what he was doing, he'd drawn his arm tighter around her. For a second he wondered if Asch was controlling his body again, but he dismissed that thought. No way he'd do that. So...that meant...his body was doing it on its own. Tear didn't seem to mind though, resting there comfortably on his shoulder.

Then Luke realized...he didn't mind either. It felt...nice...

So, he almost didn't notice Tear beginning to lean back again, but she must have, or else he did. Because next thing he knew, they were both lying down in the grass.

"Um...Tear?" Luke said softly. Was she asleep? No, she opened her eyes and looked at him.

"Hm?"

"Well, um...is this ok?" Luke felt very awkward.

"Hm?"

Apparently, she had dozed off or something, and was still out of it.

"Never mind," Luke smiled. "Are you cold?"

Tear nodded and closed her eyes again, so Luke pulled her closer, wrapping both arms around her now. He felt her move her own arms so they wrapped around to his back.

It really was much warmer this way. Luke tried to think about all the things he'd learned that day, but as fatigue overtook him and he drifted off, his only thought was...

_I hope Tear doesn't get mad and hit me with her staff when she wakes up..._

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Aww, lessons in combat and romance. Fluffy! Did you like it? Let me know! But if you flame, Tear will use the resulting FoF and cast Searing Sorrow on you. XP


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